Happy New Year! It’s that time when many of us resolve to remake ourselves, even with that nagging feeling in the back of our minds that change will only last a short while.

But fear not! I’ve thought of nine resolutions for business owners that are both easy and worthwhile. These resolutions will lighten your load and make your workday just a little easier.

1. Manage your passwords

I set this as a goal for myself one New Year, and I can attest that my digital life is better since I’ve done it. Every time a data breach hits the news, I have added peace of mind because the odds that my other accounts will be compromised are a lot lower.

So if you haven’t already, download a password manager. I use LastPass. Another good one is 1Password.

A password manager means you only have to remember one master password. The app then creates a distinct alphanumeric password for all your accounts, and you can access them from any device. It’s simpler and more secure than re-using passwords and/or the Post-It note that keeps falling off your monitor.

If you own a business, insist that your employees use a password manager, too — no more sharing passwords for accounts! This is a must. You can instantly change a password or easily restrict access if a team member leaves.

2. Wrangle your notifications

Dings, buzzes, and banners drive me crazy. It’s impossible to concentrate when you’re constantly being interrupted.

Take some time over the next few days to go through your phone and desktop notifications. Turn off anything that you don’t need (I’m looking at you, Words with Friends). For the notifications that you do need or want, consider turning off the sound or only allowing an icon badge.

Here are some shortcuts to help you figure out how to turn those suckers off:

3. Change the copyright date on your website

Everyone forgets to do this. Perhaps you’ve forgotten for several years. Dust off your homepage and make sure it says 2020 in the footer.

While you’re there, look at any other things on your website that could use a polish. Need to update your imagery? Check out these stock photos. Broken code? Find a freelance developer on Fiverr. Haven’t blogged in months? (Guilty!) Hire a writer, or experiment with an algorithm-written article — it’s less than a dollar!

Finally, especially if you’re an advertiser, make sure your website has a privacy policy. You can generate one for free that is GDPR-compliant. I talk about why a privacy policy is important (as well as several other ways you can improve your landing pages) here.

4. Give your social media a tune-up

The start of the year is a good time to revisit your social media presence. If your social channels have gotten stale, plan your messaging across all networks with a service like CoSchedule or PromoRepublic. You’ll spend less time managing posts and visually map your content on a calendar.

Take care that your social media posts aren’t all about you. Think about ways for your business to add value to your audience, so that people will want to follow it.

If your business relies heavily on Instagram and Pinterest, take a look at Tailwind. I wrote a full review of the service here. Want to use Instagram more, but your audience is tiny? Think about ways to grow it. One neat service that I found is called Kicksta, which can, in a totally non-spammy way, grow your Instagram following.

5. Revisit your ad strategy and creative

Take a fresh look at your advertising. If your creative could use a facelift, consider running a design contest. This way, graphic designers from all over the world compete to win your business, and you can choose the finished work you like the best.

If you are having trouble deciding on a design, try an A/B test on Facebook or Google to see whether the creative resonates.

Finally, consider the media mix you’re using. Don’t overlook channels like LinkedIn and Microsoft Advertising. I explain why Microsoft Ads (previously Bing) might be a good fit in this article.

6. Tame your inbox

Take control of your inbox. Use Unroll.me to consolidate your promotional emails into a single daily send and to easily unsubscribe from lists you no longer want to be on. Take care, however: Unroll.me is fantastic and free, but you will be sharing information with Rakuten Intelligence.

If you don’t want to do this, there are still ways to clean up your inbox:

  • Ruthlessly unsubscribe from anything you signed up for. Report spam on anything you didn’t.
  • Hide any optional portions of the mail interface you don’t use, such as tabs, chat, or menu bars.
  • Learn how to create rules for your inbox (below) so that certain senders, domains, or Subject Line phrases can be automatically marked as read, deleted, or organized into a folder.

7. Write better emails

After you’ve tamed your inbox (Resolution #6), improve your own emails. I recommend the free Grammarly plugin for a simple grammar- and spell-checker.

If you use Gmail or Google for Business and especially if you’re a woman, I also recommend the Just Not Sorry plugin. This plugin flags words and phrases that we are prone to use to soften or hedge our statements, such as “just,” “I think,” and “I’m no expert.” As founder Tami Reiss told Slate, too many women inadvertently discredit their own opinions. “We thought: What if we changed the environment? What if we pinged someone to say, ‘Hey, you’re doing this thing that you probably don’t want to do. The response is going to be unconscious to someone else, but it’s going to have a really big impact.’” After several years of using this plugin, I agree.

8. Limit the junk mail that comes into your office and home

I hate clutter, especially clutter I never wanted in the first place. This year, find your inner Marie Kondo and limit the junk mail that you have to sort through.

First, follow these steps to remove yourself from mailing lists. Then, download the PaperKarma app. By snapping a picture of any junk mail that does come to your home or office, you can instantly unsubscribe from the senders.

9. Back up your files

If you’re not already doing this, get on it! Losing your work isn’t a problem until that one time when you lose it — and there’s never a good time for that to happen.

This is one area of my life where I don’t mind overkill. I back up my Mac and phone with Time Machine, Apple’s built-in program. All my files are archived on an external hard drive (storage is cheap these days — you can get five terabytes for about $100! I still remember when Zip disks were $50 each.) I take the added step of using Google Backup and Sync in case my hardware ever fails. And, for good measure, I’ll still email myself or save files to Dropbox or iCloud if I feel like I need to put it in one more place… just in case.

Wishing you a wonderful 2020. What are you resolving to do this year?

Kim Kohatsu
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Also published on Medium.